90 Day Close Out Process of a Sponsored Project
PURPOSE:
Most agencies require the University
to submit a final invoice or financial report when a project ends. Post Award Accounting Services and Fiscal
Compliance (PAASFC) is responsible for preparing these reports, submitting
them, and certifying on behalf of the University that project expenditures
comply with agency financial terms and conditions. If you manage sponsored project funds for
your department, you assist in this process by knowing and participating (where
applicable) in the following procedures below:
PAASFC
- 90 days prior to the award end date
the PAASFC office will advise the department and PI that a sponsored project
will be ending.
- The Post Award Administrator will
partially fill out the Financial Expense Report (FER) then forward the form
electronically to the PI, department financial manager and the Office of Grant
and Contract Services director/GCA . Below are the areas that PAASFC will
pre-fill before distributing the FER.
- To
(department administrative contact)
- PI (name of PI)
- Agency
Award # (agency number for the award)
- Department
ID#
- Project
ID#
- End
Date
- Sponsor
- Project
Title
- Annual/Interim
Report (if applicable)
- Cost
Share (indicated if cost sharing applies to this award)
- Award
Budgets ( Column A )
- Cumulative
Expenses Per Ledger (Column B) plus the date of ledger
- PAASFC
Contact (Post Award Administrator’s name
and phone number)
- PAASFC will work with the department
during the last 90 days of the project and the first 45 days after the end date
of the project ensuring the department is actively in the close out process and
to address any issues of fiscal compliance that maybe discovered.
DEPARTMENT
- Perform a preliminary review of
expenditures 90, 60 & 30 days before the project ends, and perform a final
review of the ledger 30 days after the project end date. Be sure to:
- Review
all encumbrances. Determine which incurred expenses won’t post to the ledger by
the end of the project period. Determine
which encumbrances should be lifted, which should be charged to the project.
- Review
account codes for unallowable expenses.
Without agency approval, those expenses must be removed from the
project.
- Verify
that the award budget and specific expense limitations haven’t been exceeded. Many agencies require that expenses conform
to the award budget or have spending limits on specific categories. Without agency approval, expenses that exceed
the budget must be removed from the project.
- If
the total budget balance is in overdraft, transfer the expense overruns off the
project.
- If
there is a budget unexpended balance, review the award policy. Your options may include:
- Confirm with the PI, and then, via
PAASFC, return the unspent balance to the agency
- Transfer appropriate expenses to the
project
- Request permission from the agency,
through OGCS, to extend the project end date so continued spending may occur or
- Request permission from the agency,
through OGCS, to transfer the balance to a continuation period of the project
(if appropriate).
- Final
Report (if applicable)
- Review subsequent expenses (those
posted after the end date). Verify that
they legitimately apply to the project and were incurred before the end date.
- Confirm that all appropriate expenses
have been posted to the project.
- Make sure that all expenses comply
with award terms and are appropriate to the project.
- Prepare the Financial Expense Report
(FER) and submit to the Post Award Administrator no more than 45 days after the
project ends.
SUMMARY
Closing an award out is a collective
process with close communication between the department and PAASFC. The FER was created to enable this process to
be streamlined, efficient and provide direction, resulting in a clean close out
within the 90 day window of time allowed by most sponsors. Nothing is more frustrating to all involved
when the closing of an award drags out for months after the end date of the
project, in addition to this being non-compliant.